Schools. I do not include in that amount the sums expended upon our higher institutions of learning. I would point to the fact that fifty-two per cent. of the taxation of Ohio for the last five years, aside from the War Tax and the tax for the payment of her public debt, has been for the support of her schools. I would point to the schools of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo and other cities of the state, if I desired a stranger to see the glory of Ohio. I would point to the 13,000 schoolhouses and the 700,000 pupils in the schools of Ohio. I would point to the $3,000,000 she has paid for schools during the last year alone. This, in my judgment, is the proper gauge by which to measure the progress and glory of states. The development and progress of educational facilities in Ohio since Garfield's speech will indicate how thoroughly attached her people are to popular education. In 1909 the total expenditure for Common School purposes was $25,011,361.94; the value of public school property was $67,901,717.00; the number of teachers employed was 25,752 and all of these were utilized in the education of 838,080 pupils who were in daily attendance in the schools. Surely this is the highest evidence that the people of Ohio have considered a success the labors of these professional educators and wise legislators who created and preserved the system of popular education. These pages have undertaken to record its gradual development and to give the reader an idea of its broad foundation and lofty structure, in order that he may have not only a greater historical knowledge but a more patriotic appreciation of a great State. Α * ROUND the little village of Kirtland, in Lake County, cluster some of the most important and interesting historical recollections of Ohio. It was here in 1831 that the Mormons established their first "Stake of Zion," and for seven years it was the scene of active, and at times sensational, operations of this remarkable religious body. The Church of the Latter Day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr., at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, April 6, 1830. Tons of literature have been published discussing the question whether Smith was an honest enthusiast, an earnest mystic or an arrant impostor. It is not the purpose here to add to this class of writings, but to record the historical facts in the life of Mormonism connected with Ohio. Hence a mere narrative of Smith's claims will suffice for an intelligent understanding of his work in this State. In 1823 he claimed that he discovered golden plates on which were written the records of Mormon. They were not taken out of their resting place until 1827, because of an inspiration he said he had received from an angel. In 1830 he published a translation of them under the name of "The Book of Mormon." In this work it is told how, in the reign of King Zedekiah of Jerusalem, Lehi, an Israelite, with his family, went from Palestine to America; his adventures and revelations were recorded on these plates as published in this book. The sons of Lehi became the ancestors of the North American Indians; the descendants of Nephi, one of the sons, became good Christians and preserved the sacred plates which Joseph Smith, Jr., is said to have discovered. They converted all America to Christianity. In consequence of wars, at the beginning of the fourth century, the Church fell to pieces. Then came Mormon, a mighty hero, and drove out these American Philistines, who, in time, had become red and barbarous. They afterward returned and exterminated the Christian Nephites. Mormon's son, Moroni, found Lehi's plates, giving a history of his people, in A. D. 420. The publication of the "Book of Mormon” at Palmyra, N. Y., in 1830, created a sensation in the religious world. It was attacked as a fraud and it was charged that it was a plagiarism of the writings of one Solomon Spaulding, who lived at Conneaut in Ashtabula County. This work of Spaulding was entitled "The Manuscript Found," and it was claimed that it was written in scriptural style, similar to the "Book of Mormon" and that it was the real foundation for that production. And further, that it was surreptitiously obtained by Joseph Smith, Jr., who appropriated its ideas and its language. This theory was advanced soon after the publication of the "Book of Mormon." At that time, the Mormon elders attracted attention by their preaching about Conneaut, and when the Mormon Bible, as the new work was called, was read, many persons present were struck by what they thought was a similarity between Smith's book and the Spaulding manuscript. It should be stated that Solomon Spaulding used to read his manuscript to his neighbors until many of them became familiar with its language, contents and style. When they heard the "Book of Mormon," some of them testified that it was sub |